1. Technical Field
The present invention falls within the field of office furniture, more particularly, tables and desks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the proliferation of computers and other electronic devices in the modern workplace, it has become important to manage and channel the wiring for such devices. The reduction of "wire clutter" is important for a number of reasons including safety, ease of maintenance, cleanliness, and aesthetics. It is not unusual for office tables to include wire managers in the form of horizontal trays underlying the table top. See, for example, the following United States Patents of the present inventor: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,827,851; 5,337,657; and 5,640,912. One problem with most of these systems is that the wire manager, or tray, is accessible only from the outside of the table. If the table is positioned against a wall, for example, it must be moved before the tray can be accessed.
It is also known in prior art tables to provide a vertical wire manager along the table leg. A number of approaches to achieving this result have been attempted. These include providing recesses in the legs themselves, the recesses being closed by flexible covers or by removable U-shaped covers. This results in increased complexity of manufacture, an undesirable proliferation of parts, and unappealing aesthetics. Furthermore, it would be desirable for such a leg-mounted housing to communicate with the horizontal wire tray.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a wire manager system for a table which includes a wire tray accessible from underneath the table. Other objects are to provide such a table having a leg-mounted wire housing adapted to communicate with the horizontal tray and closure means on the vertical housing permitting wire access at any along its length, to provide a housing and closure that aesthetically complements the shape of the table leg, and that is of simple construction. The manner in which these objects are achieved will be apparent from the following description and appended claims.